He was here by phone a couple of weeks ago, but this week we have him live and in person! Paul Krassner, counterculture icon extraordinaire and investigative satirist.
When People magazine called Krassner "Father of the underground
press," he immediately demanded a paternity test. He had published
The Realist magazine from 1958 to 1974. He reincarnated it as a
newsletter in 1985. "The taboos may have changed," he wrote, "but
irreverence is still our only sacred cow." The final issue was
published in Spring 2001.
Krassner's style of personal journalism constantly blurred the line between observer and participant. He interviewed a doctor who performed abortions when it was illegal, then ran an underground referral service. He covered the antiwar movement, then co-founded the Yippies with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. He published material on the psychedelic revolution, then took LSD with Tim Leary, Ram Dass and Ken Kesey.
He edited Lenny Bruce's autobiography, How to Talk Dirty and
Influence People, and with Lenny's encouragement, became a stand-up
performer himself, opening at the Village Gate in New York in 1961. Ten
years later--five years after Lenny's death--Groucho Marx said, "I
predict that in time Paul Krassner will wind up as the only live Lenny
Bruce."
Krassner's latest book is One Hand Jerking: Reports From an Investigative Satirist, with a foreword by Harry Shearer and an introduction by Lewis Black, published by Seven Stories Press. He publishes the Disneyland Memorial Org at paulkrassner.com
He will be appearing along with Rick Overton and Charlie Hill
among other stand-up comics at the Powerhouse in
Venice on August 5, and will perform at the Prop Theater in Chicago on
September 22.
Here are some links for Paul:
Paul's website - PaulKrassner.com
Get his writings here at The Realist.
He's writing now on the Huffington Post - a feature entitled "A**holes of the Week", and other articles.
Next at bat, on the phone we have one of the hardest-working people in the Progressive community, David Swanson. He is currently on the road, marching with Cindy Sheehan on her way to Congress.
He's the Washington Director of Democrats.com and of ImpeachPAC.org. He is co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org / CensureBush.org coalition, creator of MeetWithCindy.org and KatrinaMarch.org, and a board member of Progressive Democrats of America.
He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Swanson serves on the executive council of the Washington Baltimore Newspaper Guild. He obtained a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
In April 2007, Swanson began consulting part-time for Kucinich for President 2008.
More juicy political tidbits from the indefatigably intrepid gumshoe Greg Palast! Buy his book, Armed Madhouse, now in paperback. Greg dishes the dirt on what's up with John Conyers and his pile of evidence that is screaming for impeachment. Greg will be covering the hearings for the BBC next week.
Also on the phone Bree will be talking to Dr. Dennis Loo. He is the co-author/editor of Impeach the President: the Case Against Bush and Cheney, Associate Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly Pomona, and a member of the World Can't Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime National Steering Committee. His blog is at http://dennisloo.blogspot.com. Information on the DY! campaign is at http://worldcantwait.org.
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